[EVENT] The Yokota Air Base Bombing

One week after the North Korean invasion of South Korea, the Japan Communist Party's (JCP) leader, Nosaka Sanzō, published a statement in the Chūnichi Shimbun newspaper:

Workers and peasants of Japan; the American imperialists have attacked our Korean brothers, supporting dictator Rhee in the murder of countless communist forces and destroying democracy in Korea. Meanwhile, our government supports these Americans, selling the people and the nation of Japan and turning the country into a military base for the expansion of Western imperialism. As such, we call upon all the workers and peasants of Japan to stand up against America and their Liberal stooges in the Diet and for an immediate end to the American intervention in Korea so that peace can be established.

To that end, we also call upon all to lay down your work against imperialism, to lay down your studies against imperialism, to protest and to blockade American bases, without violence, and to do whatever is in your own power to further peace and aid the plight of our Korean brothers.

The statement was far from surprising and could not have been considered a reversal of the JCP course, but outside observers noticed that the way Nosaka behaved following its publication was unusual. He spoke with less confidence, and it soon became clear that forces within the party were moving against him. It seemed like he was losing his grip on the more radical cadres.

In the night of June 12th, 1950, the gatehouse guarding the entrance to Yokota Air Base went up in the air with a loud explosion. American forces were at the scene in minutes, discovering the wreckage and finding three wounded and four dead guards. Americans held up a number of locals in the area until Japanese police arrived, assuming custody over the locals and arresting some.

The investigation determined a Tokyo student by the name of Mizuki Haru was behind the bombing. He had obtained a bag full of dynamite, which he had thrown into the gatehouse through a window that had been open, presumably because one of the men had been smoking. It was determined that Mizuki had gotten very lucky with his throw, but that the lack of rails guarding the windows was a serious oversight.

Mizuki was a member of the Zengakuren student federation and the youth wing of the JCP. Even under heavy interrogation, he would not reveal where he obtained the dynamite, but the police nevertheless arrested two dozen JCP and Zengakuren members on suspicion of aiding Mizuki.

While public discourse roared as conservative voices called for the complete ban of the JCP, the internal struggle of the party was no less fierce. Leading figures such as General Secretary Tokuda Kyūichi called for a violent struggle, which Nosaka refused to adopt. With just enough backers at the top, Nosaka managed to outmaneuver Tokuda, who fled with several others to mainland China. It soon became apparent, however, that they enjoyed more support among the JCP cadres than Nosaka's faction, owing to the fact that they were on the side of Stalin and Mao. Mizuki had been one of their adherents, and while he was the first to act and be succesful, he was certainly not going to be the last.

Mizuki Haru was sentenced to death for terrorism, three counts of assault and four counts of murder in september of 1950.